Tokyo Indexes Fall, 6% Weekly Gain

123jump.com Staff
24 Aug, 2007
New York City

Nikkei 225 index fell on the last day of the week. investors are increasingly factoring housing market led economic slowdown in the U.S. Worries of slower earnings growth for exporters led the indexes lower in Tokyo trading. Of the 225 stocks in the index, 158 declined signaling a broader sell-off. Daily turnover in the first section was recorded at 2.3 trillion yen. The firming trend in yen against dollar continued.

[R]7:00AM New York, 8:00PM Tokyo-Japanese shares reverse earlier gains on fresh concern global stocks will resume their slide. Yen continues firm against American dollar. Trade Ministry to spend more on energy sources in 2008. Bank of Japan says company service prices hit 15-year highs.[/R]

Japanese shares fell on the worries that economic growth in the U.S. likely to slow. Comments from two executives at mortgage lenders sparked new round of worries. Tokyo lost 0.41% reversing yesterday sharp gains at 2.61%. Of the 225 Nikkei shares, 158 dropped, 58 gained and 9 were unchanged. Topix Index dropped 5.96 to 1,585.85.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 dropped 0.41% or 67.35 to 16,248.97 in shaky trading, dragged by investor concerns that U.S. economy is heading for a slow growth period. Yen firmed to 115.90 against the dollar from 116.19 previously.

For the week Nikkei 225 jumped 6.4% and broader index Topix soared 7% after a week of volatile trading.

The Bank of Japan said Friday prices paid by companies for a variety of services such as transportation rose 1.6% in July from a year earlier. In June, Japan corporate price index stood at 1.5%. Analysts predict higher company costs will result in higher retail prices and higher inflation.

Japan, United States, and Australia in talks trying to host a first trilateral summit on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders, scheduled in Sydney for Sept 8-9 Japanese media reported Friday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, U.S. President George W Bush, and Australian Prime Minister John Howard are expected to confirm coordination on the issue of North Korea''s nuclear programs as well as on the abduction issue at the projected summit, the reports added.

The Social Insurance Agency said Thursday it began work Monday this week with a team of private-sector experts to identify over 50 million pension accounts with errors. The Agency said it will separate accounts with errors from accounts of dead pensioner.

Industrial, electric and bank shares fell. Of the stocks in Nikkei 225 index, Sekisui House led decliners dropping 3.4% followed by Nisshin Seifun down 3.11% and T&D Holding Inc fell 3.06%. Kumajai Gumi Co lost 2.99% while Yahoo Japan eased 2.89%. Financial shares Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsui Trust Holdings, Chiba Bank and Marubeni Corp lost over 1%. Sumitomo Electric In, Yokogama Electric, Electric Industries and Toray Industries fell as well. Film manufacturing and motor stocks rose. Daikin Industries led gainers rising 3.83% followed by Nippon Sheet Gla up 3.70%. Canon Inc pushed higher 3.67% while Nikon Corp added 2.74%. Konica Minolta and Fujifilm rose over 1%. Hino Motors gained 3.30% while Isuzu Motors rose 1.99%.

Isuzu Motors Ltd and Toyota Motor Corp said Thursday they had concluded an agreement to jointly develop small diesel engines for the European market. Production of the 1.6-liter engine for Toyota vehicles sold in Europe is scheduled to begin around 2012, with Isuzu heading its development, production and supply. Toyota Motor Corp dropped 0.30%.